With the 2025-26 school year having started on Aug. 11 for all Hillsborough County students, Pride Elementary has a new principal who has taken the helm after the retirement of former principal Paulette English.
Kirsten Meyer says it feels like âcoming full circleâ for her, after starting her career as a second grade teacher at Hunterâs Green Elementary (HGE) in 1998.
In fact, two teachers who are now part of the staff at Pride â Julia McKernan and Lucy Kovach â were once her students at HGE.
âItâs nice to see the growth in the community and see the love and passion that teachers have for their kids,â Meyer says. âThereâs an energetic feeling and a love for learning at all of the schools in this area.â
Most recently, Meyer was assistant principal at Mitchell Elementary in South Tampa, where she served for two years. Prior to that, she was the assistant principal at Foster Elementary off of 22nd St. in North Tampa.
At Pride, she leads one of the largest schools in Hillsborough County â about 1,000 students.
âTo be a first-time principal and have the responsibility to take on a school that is such a high-performing school is an honor,â Meyer says. âI know the expectation walking in. I know that I have to keep this going.â
In fact, Pride has never received any letter grade other than âAâ from the State Dept. of Education in the 23 years it has received one since first opening for the 2001-02 school year.
Meyer says the staff and parents have been welcoming and supportive, and that she is excited to work with the âamazingâ staff, including her experienced assistant principal, Heather Moncrief.
She says she recently learned that the schoolâs namesake, Dr. Richard Ford Pride, is the grandfather of Shaylia McRae, whom Meyer worked under when McRae was a regional superintendent for the county.
âItâs another personal connection,â Meyer says. âI have to live up to her namesake. This school has a tradition of high standards, so I want to make this community proud and make these teachers proud.â
Speaking a few days before school started, she said she couldnât want for the students to come back and get the year under way.
âPinch me,â she says. âItâs a dream come true. I couldnât have wished for anything better.â
As youâre receiving this issue, the 2025-26 school year is about a week old, but because our deadline to finish this issue was the day before school started, we couldnât get photos from the actual opening day of school onto these pages, so our amazing photographer Charmaine George went to as many âMeet the Teacherâ events at as many of our area schools as she could.
Charmaine included shots from each of these events not only in the beautiful collage on this page, but also put together the best of the best photos she took and gave us dozens of options to fit on these pages.
A few things to note:
1) Neither Freedom nor Wharton high schools held their own âMeet the Teacherâ events, so we have no photos from those schools on these pages.
2) Charmaine was careful to ask permission at each school, so the faces of children who are not allowed to be photographed were not included.Â
Charmaine was able to get photos at Clark, Heritage, Hunterâs Green, Pride and Tampa Palms elementaries and at Turner Bartels K-8 School. We apologize that she was not able to get pictures at Chiles Elementary, Benito or Liberty middle schools or Freedom or Wharton high schools. â GN
The chart above shows all of the letter grades received by all 18 public and charter schools located in Wesley Chapel after both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.Â
The Florida Department of Education released school grades for the 2023-24 school year on July 24, assigning a B grade for Pasco County Schools. Pasco has maintained a B rating since 2017.
Superintendent Kurt Browning said in a release, âWe are incredibly proud of our students, teachers, and staff for their hard work and dedication. These grades show that we are on the right track, and our efforts are paying off.â
All of Wesley Chapelâs schools earned an âA,â âBâ or âCâ letter grade, along with 85 percent of schools throughout the county.
While the vast majority of Wesley Chapel schools maintained the same grade as last year (14 of the 18 schools stayed the same from 2023), only one improved by a letter grade â Pinecrest Academy K-8 school, which improved to an A from last yearâs B, while three dropped a letter grade, with Quail Hollow and Veterans elementary schools moving from a B to a C, and Sand Pine moving from an A to a B.
In a letter to Sand Pine families, principal Angie Shauger explained the disappointing change. âWe missed the A grade by just one point, scoring 61 when the cut score for an A was 62,â she wrote. âWhile this news is disappointing, it is important to recognize the hard work and dedication that our staff and students have shown throughout the year.â
She said sheâs âvery proud of all the progress we have made and the commitment everyone has shownâ and is optimistic that Sand Pine will earn an A again next school year.
Five schools maintained their A status, including Seven Oaks Elementary, Union Park Charter Academy, John Long Middle School, Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, and Wiregrass Ranch High School. While Kirkland Ranch has earned an A both school years since opening in 2022, Wiregrass Ranchâs history of A ratings goes back to 2018.
Principal Robyn White says itâs a team effort that creates such consistent excellent performance. âThe teachers work really hard and the kids are very motivated to do well,â she says. âThey take what the teachers are providing them and make use of that.â
She says the grade is maintained by encouraging success across the board, not in just one area, but in English, math, social studies, science and more. One area of measurement is the schoolâs graduation rate, which was an impressive 97 percent for 2022-23, the year that was evaluated for this yearâs school grade.
White says that her goal has always been to get a 100-percent graduation rate. She plans to retire from Wiregrass Ranch at the end of the 2024-25 school year, so she has one last chance to hit that mark.
âWe look at each individual student and do whatâs best for kids,â she says. âI firmly believe thatâs why weâre an A school.â
Congratulations to co-founder/CEO Andy Sherrard and location director Rashonda Powe on the opening of the 50th location of O2B Kids, the preschool/ daycare that opened earlier this month, and held a ribbon cutting on Jan. 10, at 2400 Ashley Creek Trail, which is a side street off Wesley Chapel Blvd., where it meets S.R. 56 and S.R. 54 (next to the Wawa).
This is the 39th O2B Kids location in Florida and the second serving kids in our area, as there also is a location in Seven Oaks (at 27830 Summergate Blvd., between Samâs Club and Bruce B. Downs Blvd.).
The new location has room for about 170 children, from infants through pre-Kindergarten, and also offers after-school care for elementary school-aged children.
O2B Kids locations are vibrantly colored, immaculate and offer play-based learning curriculums for preschoolers and lots of after-school activities for elementary-aged kids.
For info, call (813) 499-1150 for the new O2B or (813) 994-2700 for the Seven Oaks location. Or, visit O2BKids.com.
At a June 7 meeting at Pride Elementary, (l.-r.) Pride principal Paulette English, Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn and School District director of operations Chris Farkas discussed transportation issues at Pride with about 30 concerned parents. (All Photos by Charmaine George).
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera takes pride in his ability to organize public town hall-style meetings and bring folks together, apparently even when the city isnât the primary focus of the meeting.
Case in point: Viera contacted District 3 Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn because a number of residents of K-Bar Ranch had contacted him about transportation issues at Pride Elementary and he felt a public meeting would help at least shed light on some of the concerns of these local residents (including some who live in the Hillsborough County-based developments of Cross Creek and Live Oak Preserve) to work on issues like buses, long pick-up and drop-off queues at Pride and the safety of the students, parents and staff at the school.
Vaughn agreed, and on June 7, about 30 Pride parents and local residents attended a meeting at the school hosted by Viera, Vaughn, Pride principal Paulette English and the director of operations for the Hillsborough School District Chris Farkas. Also on hand were Rich Reedy, the legislative aide to Hillsborough County District 2 commissioner (and Board chair) Ken Hagan, as well as the School Districtâs general manager for transportation Laura Hill.Â
The residents in attendance were mainly from a group of at least 45 Pride parents who live in the Andover Place apartments, which are located just under two miles from Pride and who had emailed Farkas because they all have to drive their children who attend Pride to school. The reason? As Vaughn explained during her opening comments, a new law passed by the state legislature dictates that students who live closer than two miles to their school are not eligible to be bused.
Vaughn also explained that the issue these parents have been experiencing is common throughout the District at many other schools. Meanwhile, Farkas said that although it is possible for the District to âcharterâ a bus for a specific group, âthere is a huge shortage of bus drivers throughout the District. Weâre about 275 drivers short right now, and we only receive about $30 million of the $64 million the District spends on transportation from the state, or about 41 cents of every dollar. The rest has to come from the Districtâs general fund, which is the same pot of money used to pay teachers, aides and staff.â
Farkas also noted that hiring additional drivers has been a priority for the District, but âwhen Pinellas County Schools pays their drivers about $4 more per hour than we do, itâs hard to attract more.â
He added, âIf enough parents are willing to share the cost of that additional bus, it is possible we could at least look into it.â
Farkas also noted that Hill is responsible for the plan of how to get all bused students to and from school on time, âand we already have to drop kids off at Pride and then the driver has to go right back out and pick up the second group of kids and drop off again.â The buses also have to drop off the first set of kids at home and return to school to then drop off the second group in the afternoon, too.
âThat creates another problem,â Farkas said. âIf we have to have a third set of kids picked up and dropped off by that same bus, how early in the morning would the first set of kids have to be dropped off at Pride in order for all three busloads get to school on time each day?â
Parents who are driving their kids to school are not allowed to leave them there until 7 a.m., English said. And, Farkas added, âif a bus had to drop off the first âloadâ of kids at 6:30, we would have to make sure that there was proper supervision for those kids to keep them safe. So, as you can see, itâs a logistical problem for us. Itâs not an impossible one to work out, but it is an issue.â
Rec Center To Help?
County Commissioner Ken Haganâs legislative aide Rich Reedy (far left) discusses transportation issues at Pride Elementary with members of the community at the June 7 meeting.
Reedy mentioned that he believes the new indoor county recreation center now in the planning stages adjacent to Pride would actually help with the number of parents currently queuing in line at the end of each school day once it opens â in 2024 â âbecause we will have additional parking over what currently is available (on a gravel parking area at Kinnan Park) at that site.â English said that the parking lot for that new rec center also would need to be available for Pride parents in the morning, or the parent queue would be even worse before school starts.
Reedy said he didnât see why that would be a problem for the county.
âWe already do a lot of co-locating with the School District at other locations,â he said. âPlus, the rec center would not be in use during school hours, so I canât imagine that would be an issue.â
Others in attendance also wanted the panel to find ways for the county, city and school district to address speeding on KInnan St., including adding more street lights, cameras and even, possibly, a roundabout where Kinnan meets Bassett Creek Dr.
The panel also said that local residents should write to their elected state legislators â State Senator Danny Burgess and State Rep. Fentrice Driskell â to help address the two-mile-radius law and the lack of proper state funding for public schools. Viera said he feels that because of Floridaâs private school voucher system, âpublic education has been abandoned by our state legislature.â Â Â
